Away From the Sun
by AriallaZarinth
Summary: Endymion wishes he could escape Beryl's grasp. Season 1, after "Crystal Clear Destiny." Songfic from 3 Doors Down: "Away From the Sun"


Title: Away From the Sun  
  
Author: AriallaZarinth  
  
Email: crystalstarr89@yahoo.com  
  
Endymion gently picked black petals off a steel-tipped rose, letting them caress his fingers momentarily before fluttering through the musty air, their velvety softness sticking to the slightly damp stone floor.  
  
"My Prince? Did you hear me, my prince?" Kunzite repeated, grey eyes tracing the fall of a petal.  
  
"I will not visit that woman, no matter how many times she summons me." Endymion's voice slid out grudgingly, silvery in the gloomy shadows.  
  
~*It's down to this  
  
I've got to make my life make sense  
  
Can anyone tell what I've done*~  
  
"She is our queen, now, my prince..Endymion."  
  
"She will never be my queen until she conquers my planet, which she will never do. She simply is holding me captive temporarily. What claim she has on you is none of my business." Endymion sighed, eyes of the blue planet raising towards the stone fingers of the cave's ceiling. He grasped the last petal, balancing it on a muscled finger. He rounded his lips and set it adrift with a breath. It twisted on the shuddering sigh, resting in the white strands of the last Terran general.  
  
Kunzite flicked it away irritably, sword-calloused hands not feeling the gentle life seeping out of the plant.  
  
"What has put you in so sour a mood, Endymion? It is not as if you are in chains." Or stone, like my brothers, Kunzite added mentally.  
  
"We are not on Earth, Kunzite. No dripping water formed those stalagmites, nothing ever burrowed into these places for a home. There is no life here, save what we are stealing from our home. Can you breathe so easily here?"  
  
"Metallia provides us with more than adequate living conditions." Kunzite responded automatically.  
  
~*I miss the life  
  
I miss the colors of the world*~  
  
"You could be on the Moon, my prince. There is no life there either."  
  
"You know as well as I the Moon can support her children. She can even support Terra's children, if she has the need, if we need her to. This place did not reject the dark one because there is no life to spurn it. Why else would Metallia not find some place on Earth? She could feed directly there."  
  
"If you say you are not bound by loyalty of any sort to Queen Beryl, then why do you stay? You seem so sure she will lose, you will escape. Do you trust the Moon Princess and her few soldiers to rescue you?"  
  
"Do you want to see Earth transformed into a place like this? If Metallia can get that much energy into her system, why would she spare you, or me, or Beryl? I will leave here, mark my words, and Metallia will be stopped. I am still here because...how do we leave? When Beryl shoves me home to parade me in front of the Princess, the black magic around me is as strong as she can make it, and stronger, for you are there to make sure I return...and her other sedations..."  
  
~*Can anyone tell where I am  
  
Cause now again I've found myself so far down  
  
Away from the sun that shines into the darkest place  
  
I'm so far down away from the sun again  
  
Away from the sun again*~  
  
Kunzite stepped forward, boot sole crushing the delicate petals strewn on the floor. Endymion must have been at his rose pasttime for hours.  
  
"The queen summoned you; you must go to her. She has need of you."  
  
"Well I have no need of her!"  
  
"You fought with us readily for a time,"  
  
"Yes, until I regained myself. Even you have your true memories back, no fogs of mindaltering, no brainwashing, all of your memories intact."  
  
"Including where I was recreated by Metallia through Beryl in exchange for my loyalty. I cannot return to Earth, though she calls for me. You are not the only Terran here."  
  
"But this place is home for you too, these blank walls and echoing passageways. They made sure they infused that into your psyche, if not into your soul." Endymion responded bitterly. "This is not a place of death...it is the absence of life, not the end of it, that makes it unbearable."  
  
~*I'm over this  
  
I'm tired of livin' in the dark  
  
Can anyone see me down here  
  
The feeling's gone  
  
There's nothing left to lift me up  
  
Back into the world I know*~  
  
"We are enough life to animate this place." Kunzite protested stubbornly.  
  
"Then why were you so jealous of the life you saw on Earth that you could attack mercilessly? You did not remember with your mind what you and the Princess of Venus shared, but something inside of you did. Why else turn to Zoicite, if there is enough life to 'animate' this hell? You needed something else, more life,"  
  
"We cared for each other, that is all. I knew nothing of Minako - ah, Sailor Venus."  
  
"Do you miss her? Regret not being able to hold her, even if you would kill her afterwards? If she could join us, would you want her to, or would you counsel that she is not to be trusted?" Endymion's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I...I... she is my enemy."  
  
~*And now again I've found myself so far down  
  
Away from the sun that shines into the darkest place  
  
I'm so far down away from the sun  
  
That shines to light the way for me to find my way back into arms  
  
That care about the ones like me  
  
I'm so far down away from the sun again*~  
  
"Is it the Moon Princess you pine for? Is she the reason you sulk here, carpeting your room in rose petals? Or are you expecting her to wander in here, so you can woo her amidst the flowers? Will she agree with your fancy, that this place is worse than dead?"  
  
"Serenity is no business of yours. What we have between is just that, between us. I neither expect nor need her to come for me. We understand each other, Serenity and I, in a way that you would recongize if you wouldn't hide from your own past."  
  
"Liar. She cries for you every time I see her. It is dangerous for her to be that distracted, perhaps if I mentioned your name she would fall all over herself once too many times, and I could bring her to you. Dead."  
  
"You cannot kill her, Kunzite. You have not the power. I'm not even sure Beryl does."  
  
"What about you, my prince? I remember you telling me something only days before Beryl came back to court, infused with her dark power. Where is your Crystal to match the Princess' one?"  
  
"Sealed away, for protection. Do not think you or anyone else here can get their hands on it. The power is mine, and I have sealed it away with the help of another."  
  
"Until you are ready for it? Or until you leave here?"  
  
"Until I choose to retake the Crystal."  
  
Kunzite laughed, sneering. His cape swung behind him, stirring the layer of petals on the floor.  
  
"You were once my prince, Endymion, but you are nothing but a bluffing fool now."  
  
~*I'm so far down away from the sun again  
  
It's down to to this  
  
I've got to make this life make sense  
  
And now I can't tell what I've done*~  
  
"You keep closing your eyes to the truth, Endymion, and perhaps you'll wake up when they all die." Kunzite turned, heels clicking as he strode towards the throne chamber.  
  
Endymion bowed his head, producing another rose, though he had not the strength to take the weapon's edge off them. Blood squeezed from various slices on his hands, warm and comforting, wrapping his fingertips in memories of life. He felt the weak pulse of Terra's energy in the petals as he plucked them, their ebony hearts littering his clothing as well as the floor about him.  
  
He didn't hear the swish of the dress nor the scuffle of slippers as she crossed his room. She took the rose stem from his hands, tossing it carelessly over her shoulder. Taloned fingers tipped his chin upwards, one thumb rubbing across his lips. He felt the healing blisters on her fingertip and grimaced.  
  
He was too weak, too sick of being in that place to resist as she filtered her poison into his mind. She pulled him from his seat, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a possessive kiss on his face.  
  
When he didn't respond, her magic moved his body.  
  
"You are mine, Endymion."  
  
"Never, Beryl." But he couldn't push her away when she kissed him again.  
  
~*And now again I've found myself so far down  
  
Away from the sun that shines to light the way for me  
  
And now again I've found myself so far down  
  
Away from the sun that shines into the darkest place  
  
I'm so far down away from the sun  
  
That shiens to light the way for me to find my way back into teh arms  
  
That care about the ones like me  
  
I'm so far down away from the sun again*~ 


End file.
